Recorded at The Lair in Los Angeles, ‘Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice’ retains HIM’s gothic atmosphere but places a greater emphasis on the immediacy of the songs. New titles including ‘Love, The Hardest Way’, ‘In The Arms of Rain’, ‘Ode To Soltitude’ and ‘In Venere Veritas’ focus on soaring, hook-laden choruses, gargantuan riffs and fluid solos. Produced by Matt Squire (Panic At The Disco, Taking Back Sunday, The Used) and mixed by Neal Avron (Linkin Park Fall Out Boy, Weezer), the album streamlines the quartet’s finest attributes into their most accessible work to date.
"In the past we used synthesizers to emulate real instruments - piano and strings and all that," says Ville Valo. "This time we wanted all the synths to sound like synths. It's a pretty Eighties album for us, and I love the Eighties because the Eighties, musically, was about melody and huge choruses. That's very essential for us.”